The new MRI for Carlow and Kilkenny still isn’t operational despite arriving two months ago.
Hopes were high that tests would have taken place in December on the long-awaited machine at St Luke’s Hospital and that it would be in use by now.
However, the HSE has told KCLR News that those tests are now due to take place later this month and it’ll be late February or early March before the service is underway.
However that’s dependent on a number of factors. Including the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, staffing shortages and increased pressure on our health system.
€250,000 was raised by the public for it in a campaign led by the Friend’s of St Luke’s.
Its spokesperson Declan McCann says whatever about the start date, the focus should be on another potential worry:
“My concern is has the HSE put in place the staffing for the new MRI. Is it going to be the case that the existing staff come over and we have it two days a week”
He says he expects the machine to be used all week and not just part-time:
“I hope that the HSE has put in place the requirements for extra radiologists and extra radiographers. That to me now would be a bigger concern for the future”
